Schlesinger figured prominently in Hockney's images of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jack Hazan's film of 1972, A Bigger Splash, focused on the end of the lovers' relationship.

At the same time that he was involved in his first serious relationship, Hockney began to paint a series of double portraits of couples. That series would include paintings of writer Christopher Isherwood and painter Don Bachardy in their Santa Monica home (1968) and of art curator Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott in their New York City apartment (1969).

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Both of these double portraits assumed iconic status in the 1970s for portraying gay male couples in an everyday domestic routine, as if reaching such a stage were as simple for homosexuals as for heterosexuals.

In 1967, Hockney illustrated a limited edition of fourteen homoerotic poems by C. P. Cavafy. These etchings beautifully capture the longing and passion of the Greek poet and demonstrate Hockney's accomplishment as a graphic artist.

Hockney's first portraits of archetypal slim, tanned, and sexy California boys may have created open-mouthed dismay for their unapologetic homoeroticism when he first exhibited them, but with time such paintings have assumed honored places in late twentieth-century art history.

The painting of the naked and alluring Peter Schlesinger entitled The Room, Tarzana (1967) is a particularly important example. Nude portraits of subsequent partners Gregory Evans (sprawling against pillows, clad only in gym socks [1976]) and Ian Falconer (swimming underwater in a 1982 Polaroid collage) have also been greeted as works of art rather than as scandals.

An important characteristic of Hockney is his susceptibility to stimulus by new media and fresh subjects. The abandon and astonishing invention with which he hurls himself into explorations of all available means to depict the world around him are key features of his continuing growth as an artist.

Over the years he has moved easily from oil paints to acrylics, from pen and ink drawing to etching, from the formed dyed paper technique of his 1978 Paper Pools series to photographic collages, from Cubist-inspired paintings to designing innovative sets for operas as different as Tristan und Isolde and The Magic Flute.

He has, however, always remained a storyteller celebrating what brings him pleasure. "My sources are classic, or even epic, themes, landscapes of foreign lands, beautiful people, love, propaganda and major incidents [of my own life]," he says.

In his self-assured quest to grow as an artist in his own way, Hockney has succeeded in convincing large numbers of people to share his view that "Cézanne's apples are lovely and very special, but what finally can compare to the image of another human being?"

Prior to Stonewall, most gay artists were closeted, but they were inventive in creating codes for those in the know; after 1945 some adventurous artists developed independent networks for the distribution of works of gay art.

During the eighteenth century, men whom we would now call homosexual, such as Johann Winckelmann, Horace Walpole, and William Beckford, were at the forefront of public taste, championing respectively the fresh interest in Classical, Gothic, and Oriental styles.

A large number of significant twentieth-century European artists focused on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender themes, making such concerns crucial to the understanding of twentieth-century European art.

American artist Don Bachardy, the long-time companion of novelist Christopher Isherwood, has achieved renown in his own right for his nudes and celebrity portraits, which honestly convey the personalities of his sitters.

A major Anglo-American novelist and a pioneer in the gay liberation movement, Christopher Isherwood created gay characters whose homosexuality is a simple given, an integral part of the wholeness of personality and an emblem of their common humanity.

The most famous artist who ever lived, Michelangelo left an enormous legacy in sculpture, painting, drawing, architecture, and poetry; while the artist's sexual behavior cannot be documented, the homoerotic character of his drawings, letters, and poetry is unmistakable.

Publishers Stathis Orphanos and Ralph Sylvester, partners in life as well as business, are best known for their beautifully produced limited edition books; in addition, Orphanos is acclaimed for his photographs of celebrities and male nudes.

In his 1960s and 1970s images of hikers, bikers, and surfers, photographer and activist Mel Roberts captured the spirit of the California Dream that lured thousands of gay men to the Golden State in search of freedom and opportunity after World War II.